In Fallen, the first book in the series, Emma and her eldest daughter had been trapped in France after balls of rolling mist swarmed over the land and devoured almost everything, including people. Only a handful of people survived but the mists were still chasing them as if they were intelligent forces with an agenda. Emma found herself the guardian of several children and eventually guided them to a safe camp under the leadership of a burly man named Arthur. After the apocalyptic event, many of the survivors were imbued with strange new powers. While Emma had the power to heal, Arthur had the power to control the mists.

After a rough start, trading safety for sex, Arthur begins to fall in love with Emma. But Emma is married and only wants to find safe passage home to her husband and younger daughter in Canada. After many trials and tribulations, and when she is separated from Arthur by a rogue leader from another camp, her romantic feelings for Arthur grow and intensify. When Arthur finally reveals his secret connection to the creation of the mists, Emma abandons him and is finally reunited with her husband.

For a year and a half, Emma lives in a safe zone in Edmonton with her husband and two daughters. For some reason, this is one of the few areas the mist has not claimed. When Cold Light opens, raiders have attacked the secure town and whisked away several people including Emma and Haywood’s youngest daughter Beth. Emma and Haywood want to arrange a party to go after them but the town officials forbid it. All horses and supplies have been appropriated by the town after the apocalypse. Taking a horse would result in execution.

Haywood has the gift of foresight. He can see several paths they might take to successfully bring Beth home. If they both go, one of them will die. If Emma goes alone, she has a chance to bring Beth home safe and sound. But Haywood can’t see everything and he misses one major factor: Arthur.

For as long as Emma has been home in Canada, she still longs for Arthur, the man she fell in love with. Arthur felt the connection from across the seas and managed to sail the ocean, bringing with him all of Emma’s companions that she endured so much with back in France.

Emma leaves Edmonton on foot and manages to make it from one safe haven to the next until she arrives in Outpost City. It is here where she comes across Arthur and her old friends. At first she can’t believe her eyes as she wonders how Arthur could be in Canada. Instead of embracing him, she pushes him away. Emma has an agenda – save her daughter from the raiders. The last thing she wants to do is pull her old friends into a suicide mission or get caught up in an extra-marital affair. But when her friends find out what happened, and after they braved the ocean to help Arthur find Emma, they aren’t about to be put out so quickly.

Now Emma isn’t alone and they set off with a herd of stolen horses, after a heated moment with the executioner, in the direction where the raiders had taken Beth. Emma is transformed from a lonely vigilante trekking across the frozen tundra to a deadly mother armed with a group of loyal friends, a Sioux woman who can vanish and reappear anywhere she likes, Inuit clothing made from Caribou to protect against the harsh weather, a little person, a protective but mysterious cougar and a bunch of new friends made along the way. Emma’s journey is complicated when Haywood reenters the picture to pull her away from Arthur and also when Emma and Arthur’s connection to the leader of the raiders is revealed. Beth’s abduction was no chance occurrence.

There is a lot more going on in this second book compared to the previous and the unexpected twists and turns are enough to make your head spin – but in a good way. The mists aren’t the same old foe fought in France. As with any good character development, this apocalyptic antagonist has evolved and grown, showing intelligent characteristics and the capacity to hunt. The creepiness is turned up a notch. And Emma discovers that some of their powers can be used in combination to deliver epic results. This accidental and fortuitous discovery comes at a time of certain death and was something I didn’t expect in the slightest.

Slatton displays exceptional storytelling abilities in Cold Light by weaving fragments together at the end in a way that was delightfully unforeseen. And her poetic prose spirit the reader away into complete submersion. She also leaves a few mysteries behind to make you ache for the third book.

While this book focused on a mother’s attempt to rescue her youngest daughter, the other main theme is the love triangle. While it appears that everyone falls in love with Emma, Arthur and her husband Haywood are the biggest competitors vying for her affection. She is in love with Arthur but feels obligation and responsibility toward her husband. While I can appreciate the fact that she had been through a lot with Arthur while she was separated from her husband in the first book, I wasn’t keen on her desire for Arthur now that she was back with her husband. She struggles with decision while I wanted to scream at her to pick one already. At the end, this is her greatest decision to be made.

If her husband had been miserable, I would have been fine with the scenario. But Haywood is a nice guy, a loving husband and a great father. Love is fickle and Emma finds a greater connection to Arthur. To decide between love and obligation seems almost cruel, but this is the fate handed to Emma. I would pass more judgment on the situation but Slatton is devious. She found a way to connect Arthur and Emma in such a manner that now makes a separation between the two feel intolerable.

The end of Cold Light leaves the reader with hope and despair at the same time. Hope for humanity, despair for our protagonists. It is a perfectly crafted middle book that will leave you hanging, wondering what book three will bring.

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Rebecca Skane

Rebecca is the founder of the Portsmouth Book Club. Google it. It's free to join! Follow me on Goodreads! Read Full